


Kintsugi

by jidashia



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Anxiety, Depression, Gen, Other, Reader Is Not Chara (Undertale), Reader Is Not Frisk (Undertale), Reader is AFAB - Freeform, Will add tags as I go, You're a mess, but so is sans, nonbinary reader, reader is goth
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-10
Updated: 2021-02-20
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:20:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,435
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24121222
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jidashia/pseuds/jidashia
Summary: "Kintsugi is a Japanese method for repairing broken ceramics with a special lacquer mixed with gold, silver, or platinum. The philosophy behind the technique is to recognize the history of the object and to visibly incorporate the repair into the new piece instead of disguising it"After a night at the club, you and your friends are on your way back home, when you witness a confrontation in an alleyway. You scare off the aggressors and meet a skeleton named Sans. And it seems like he'll be around from now on.
Relationships: Alphys/Undyne (Undertale), Sans (Undertale)/Reader
Comments: 11
Kudos: 64





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> This is a very self-indulgent project, and I'll probably make up plot as i go. It's also the first time I've ever written anything in second person, and it's currently 5am, so please be gentle with me. :'D  
> 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooo.....this has been on hold for a while. 
> 
> If you have been here before: I wrote a brand new intro, scrapped the first chapter, and rewrote the second one.  
> Details in the end notes, if you're interested in why I made the changes.

What had until mere minutes ago been the most prestigious institute for scientific research in Ebott city, had by now quite literally gone up in smoke.

Fire was raging throughout the whole building, mercilessly enveloping all 3 floors of it, lighting up the night, and causing a commotion outside.

Inside blared a repetitive alarm as emergency lights bathed the scene in an ominous red.

None of this was of any concern to the figure moving purposefully through the ruins of a particular basement laboratory, carefully scanning their surroundings, and ignoring the smoldering pieces of machinery strewn across the room, as they inspected one of the several bodies lying on the floor. There was barely anything left of this one, the remains charred beyond recognition - more of a shapeless clump than a human, really - and it was most definitely very, very dead.

This simply would not do.  
  


The figure swiftly progressed from body to body. Some of them were in similar condition to the first one, others appeared to be only slightly singed, their skin burnt in places, the occasional shard driven deep into the flesh, their labcoats ripped and gone grey with ash and debris, but unmistakably scientists. Unmistakabaly human. And unmistakably also deceased.

  
_Useless._

The figure kept searching.

_Useless._

And searching.

_Very useless._

And searching.

_Use-_

Until, out of the corner of their eye, they registered the slightest movement coming from a pile of debris.  
Someone seemed to be buried underneath it, presumably crushed under the weight of thick metal and even thicker stone, with no chance of survival... if it weren't for the twitching of a hand sticking out of it.

They moved closer, inspecting it, to make sure this was not simply a muscle reaction triggered by outside force on a dead body. As they reached for the hand, the faint wail of sirens could be heard, even down there, still distant, but rapidly approaching.

It was barely more than a flutter, but there was a pulse.

They smiled.

_Perfect._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again.
> 
> As I mentioned earlier, I did some heavy editing of what little story I had so far.  
> I started posting this work in May of 2020, during the first lockdown, as a way to cope with the boredom slowly taking ahold of me. I had so far mainly written one-shots and not done any planning on where this was supposed to go, hoping that inspiration would find me as I went. And only three chapters in, inspiration did in fact find me!  
> It also didn't fit into any of what I had already written so far. 
> 
> After reading over it again, the introduction seemed incredibly sloppy, with too much irrelevant information dumped on you, dear readers, and far too little plot setup to last for more than a few chapters. 
> 
> So, I planned to do a rewrite and then....the lockdown stopped and I had to work again.  
> Then there was another lockdown and I started to struggle financially, my parents both got the virus, my year abroad got cancelled.....you get the gist.
> 
> But now that it seems we'll be in this quite a while longer I'm trying to find the time to keep working on it.
> 
> If you've made it this far, thanks for sticking around. The next chapter will be up in the next few days, and I hope you'll enjoy it.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sans' POV
> 
> After a night at Grillby's, Sans heads home but runs into some trouble

Sans was awoken by someone gently nudging his arm.

"wha-“

He looked up, sight blurry, and it took him a second to remember where he was.  
Shit. He'd fallen asleep at Grillby's.

"Are you going to be okay?“

Grillby was at his side, hand still lingering on his arm, with a woried expression on his face. They hadn't talked about what was eating away at Sans; after all, they never really did. But Sans had been in here more often lately, had been drinking more, eating less.  
"heh. yeah, 'm fine. just bone tired, 's all.“  
He didn't even sound convincing to himself. But Grillby didn't press the matter, just gave him one more concerned look, then nodded and took a step back, as Sans hopped from the bar stool, surprising himself with how well he was able to keep his balance.

Apparently Grillby had cleaned everything up and put the chairs on the tables before waking him up. Stars, it had to be really late. Papyrus would be...disappointed. He had every reason to be.

" 'm heading out, then. see ya soon, grillbz.“

"Maybe not too soon.“ Grillby replied softly. "Good night, Sans.“

With a lazy wave back Sans stepped out into the night and took a deep breath.  
Yep, he was definitely still drunk. Not drunk enough that he'd have to walk home, though. Just a quick step to the privacy at the back of the alley and he'd use a shortcut straight to his bed. He started to shuffle towards the backside of the bar when he heard some hushed whispers and what sounded like quiet malicious laughter coming from the same direction he was headed in. As he got closer, he could see two humans standing in front of the backwall of Grillby's, seemingly putting the finishing touches to their „artwork“ while snickering.  
Sans' eyelights went out as he read what they had smeared on there. Good thing he was just in the right mood for a little confrontation.

"hey there fellas.“

Startled, the two turned to face him. The one on the left had a head full of dark greasy hair and looked a bit frightened - which changed to a lot as he took in Sans' appearance -, the other had his blonde hair shorn really short and seemed a lot calmer. Apart from that, there frankly weren't that many differences about them: they both wore dark clothes, and while grease bucket had a bandana pulled up to cover half of his face, military cut wore his identical one loosely around his neck.  
Not that it mattered. Trash was trash.

Buzzcut sneered at him and took a step away from the wall, cutting the path off from anyone who'd try to get past him.

"We don't talk to freaks, freak.“

His buddy nodded eagerly and hurried to his side. Sans shrugged.

"don't have ta talk. just listen. so you can hear me tell you to drop the cans and kindly piss off.“

Ooh, they didn't like that.

"What the fuck did you just say? Wanna repeat that?“

"sure.“

He channeled his magic and made his eye light up in blue flame.

"i said you should use that one braincell the two of you are obviously sharing and leave, before something unfortunate happens.“

The oily one looked like he was about to pee himself, which was fun. His leader friend's face turned red in anger and he got louder, clenching his fists.

"Don't you dare threaten us! The only one this will end badly for is you.“

At his pont the situation was sure to escalate, but that suited Sans just fine. He wouldn't hurt them too badly, just scare them off. They had it coming anyways. It was just self-defense, right?  
He prepared himself to use his magic as soon as they made a move.

"look, buddy, last chance, put that thing down and get outta here, or-“

"You really got some nerves, telling us what to do.“

"Yeah,“ his buddy agreed, having gotten bolder, "gonna teach you some manners, why don't we.“

He reached into the pocket of his jeans with his free hand, no doubt to take out a weapon and Sans was ready to keep both of them from getting anywhere close to him, when a voice came from behind the two:

"Hey, what the fuck is going on here?“

More humans, fantastic. Sans had been so absorbed that he hadn't even noticed them approaching. He quickly let his magic fade out and pulled his hood up. Best to stay down and assess the new situation before he acted.  
The two men whirled around towards the newcomer. Or newcomers, as Sans could make out. Four of them.

"None of your fucking business“, the blond one spat.

"I'm making it mine, asshole.“

Heh, this really wasn't these guys' evening, was it. He almost felt a little sorry for them. Almost.  
The man who approached the pair was pretty imposing, too. For a start, he was taller than both of them. He also had his eyes lined with black makeup, which made him seem even more sinister.

"We already called the cops, so you better get out of here as long as you can“, another of the group chimed in and the one holding onto her waved her phone.

The rest of these interveners, he noticed, looked just as dark, if not more so. Heavy makeup, big hair, all kinds of weird clothing and an abundance of all kinds of chains, leather and spikes. He was pretty sure what one of them wore on their upper body had once been a pair of tights. And were shoes like that even legal?

"Shit!“

Now that two were outnumbered, grease-hair had finally cracked and scrambled to get a backpack they'd leaned against the wall, as the other spit in the group's direction.

"Freaks helping freaks, what a shitshow. You're gonna regret this.“

With that they ran off. Hopefully they'd find a dictionary and added some new words to their vocabulary.  
Unfortunately, now that these two were gone, the attention of the four that chased them away rested on him.

"Hey, are you okay? Did they hurt you at all?“

The one with the flowy skirt and the colourful hair approached him. Their face was painted beautifully with big, detailed butterfly wings around the eyes, but now was not the time to stare.  
These people didn't know they rescued a monster, so who knew how they'd feel about that. Maybe he should just teleport out of here. He took a step back, making them stop .

"You don't have to be scared of us“, they said, sounding genuinely concerned.

"heh, good one. not what i'm worried about, kid. other way round, actually.“

He took off the hood and raised his head a bit, so they could see his face properly, prepared for a reaction. Any reaction really.

"Don't see why we would be.“

Huh. Not for that one. Intrigued, he got a bit closer.

"aight. thanks then, i guess. appreciate the help.“

They smiled at him, and for some reason this made his soul flutter in his chest a bit. Stupic alcohol.

"No problem. What were these guys doing here anywa-“

"Those rat-faced bastards!“

Their head turned to see what their friend so strongly reacted to and their moth formed a silent 'oh'.

"I should have actually called the police. I'm so sorry. I just pretended like I did“, the girl who was still holding onto her phone slurred apologetically.

Sans just shrugged.

"eh, 's not your fault. pretty sure grillby's used to it.“

This didn't seem to make any of them feel better. For some reason one who had first addressed him took a picture of the graffiti with their own phone, then suddenly held out their hand towards him.

"By the way, I'm y/n.“

He hesitated shortly, before shaking it, and was relieved that they didn't seemed fazed by his touch.

"name's sans.“

The others introduced themselves to him as well as they all made their way out towards the street, with Sans tagging along as he felt it too rude to leave now.  
He learned that the imposing one who, compared to the others was dressed fairly simple in black pants and a mesh top, was called Julian.  
The one with the phone, Sam, was dressed in lots of black and neon green, parts of her hair looked like it was made of some form of plastic tubes and kept holding onto Connie, the smallest of the lot, who was wearing some shiny material that seemed so tight it was a wonder there was room for her body in there.  
As it turned out they had all been to a party of some sorts and had been on their way home as they noticed the small commotion back there.

They took a turn towards a crossing and apparently they planned on splitting up here, and y/n would be going home alone as the others had to take off in the opposite direction.

"uhm, i could walk you. if you want, i mean. to get even.“

The words were out before he could stop himself. Why would he say that?

"You sure? I don't want you to go all out of your way if it's inconvenient. You should probably head home yourself.“

"nah, it's fine. it's on my way.“

Bad Mouth. Stop talking. They raised an eyebrow.

"I haven't even told you where I live“

"doesn't matter.“

Thankfully this didn't seem to weird them out. They snorted and grinned at him.

"Alright, bone boy. The honour is all yours.“

He turned away before they could see him blush.  
Shortly after that, the two of them were walking along the main road.  
Stars, they were tall. Although, probably not that much taller than him, if it weren't for these boots. They had very high heels and they looked like they were made from steel, too, like some kind of weapon. Heh, a good kick of those could probably dust him. He noticed they were looking down at him. Not that they could look at him any other way. In the dim light of the street lamps, all these markings in your face looked even more intricate than before. A lot more colourful, too. What from the shadows had seemed like just black turned out to be variations of red, purple, blue, and what not. He wondered how much time they must have spent doing this.

"so, uh“, he started, desperate to break the silence "i always wondered how people walk in these kinda shoes. seems like a hassle, to be honest“

They shrugged. "Practice. And they're actually much more comfortable than they look. I could lend you a pair if you want to try it.“

He smiled. The mental image of that was hilarious. "heh. Think i'll have to pass.“

"Shame“, they sighed dramatically. "We could have been... sole mates.“

Sans stopped. Was that. It was, wasn't it. It wasn't even that funny, but he was so tense and still slightly drunk that in that moment it was the best thing he'd ever heard.

"Come on, it wasn't even that good.“

He quickly caught up to them again and noticed their proud grin.

"dunno 'bout that. I thought it was quite a feet.“

They snorted and shook their head. He felt so pleased with himself.

"Nice one", they said. "Unfortunately, that was my only one. And fortunately, we have reached our destination.“

His smile fell. He felt like he had just started walking about a minute ago. But sure enough, there was a building and they were turned towards its entrance.  
Oh, how he loathed this building right now.

"huh. time sure flies. guess i'd better be off“

He wanted to ask for their number, if he could see them again, but thought better of it. He was drunk, and they were probably too. Otherwise they surely wouldn't have let him take them home in the first place. Best to spare them the unpleasantness of having to turn him down. And more importantly, himself. He turned to leave.

"Sans, wait!"

They called out to him and then hesitated for a second and seemed to wrestle with themselves, as he slowly faced them again. They took a deep breath and smiled.

"Let me give you my number. You won't have to contact me if you don't want to. But to me, it was really lovely meeting you.“

He barely managed to get the next words out, trying hard to keep his cool.

"sure, kiddo. knock yourself out.“

He handed them his phone and watched as they added their number to his contacts, waiting for them to change their mind any second. They didn't.

"Here you go. Get home safely. And I hope I'll hear from you.“

They handed him his phone, walked up the short path towards the entrance and unlocked the front door to the building, then turned back to wave at him.

"Good night, Sans.“

He could barely make out their words, still staring at the phone in his hand. He managed to breathe out a „good night, y/n“ just before the door fell shut.  
It took him another minute of total disbelieving euphoria before he finally teleported home.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After a few days you finally get a message from Sans

Today you had neither work nor classes to attend, so last night you'd stayed up mindlessly consuming whatever media until early in the morning, when you drifted off to sleep to wake up around 2pm.  
Three days had passed since you'd met Sans and by now you'd all but given up on ever hearing from him again. Should have known he was just being polite when he walked you home - he did say it was just to get even, after all. The disappointment had gotten you down after the end of the first day, but you were trying to let it go today, starting with a much-needed shower. Clean body, clean mind. Hopefully. At the very least, being miserable was a lot nicer while feeling fresh.

However, as you stepped out of the shower there was not just one, but three new messages from an unknown number. 

XXX-XXXX-XXX:  
hey how are you

XXX-XXXX-XXX:  
this is sans btw

XXX-XXXX-XXX:  
sans the skeleton?

You did not even bother to get dressed first as you quickly saved Sans' number, before you replied. The excitement made your heart flutter.

Y/N:  
Hey Sans! I remember you, don't worry. :D  
I'm glad you decided to write! Thought you'd forgotten about me lol

Two exclamation marks and a smiley? Desperate much. But you'd already hit send, so no use to fret over it. You also noticed you hadn't actually answered his question, so you typed a second message.

Y/N:  
I'm good btw. How about you?

There, better. You stared at your opened messages for two minutes, but no reply came just yet. Maybe he was busy. You pushed away the little voice telling you he might have decided you were a waste of time after all. Prying yourself away from the phone, you pulled up your laptop to put on some mindless entertainment to run in the background, while you got dressed and scavenged your kitchen for anything to have for breakfast.  
A few moments later you were lounging on your bed and munching on some old cereal.  
Maybe you should clean your flat. The floor of your bedroom slash living room was barely visible under all those lose sheets of paper, which you would definitely sort eventually, and the occasional pieces of clothing, which you would absolutely wash soon. -ish. And for how long had this dirty mug been here?

You let your gaze wander critically across the room. Thanks to your part-time job you were able to afford a small two-room apartment, which included a tiny bathroom, a kitchen that technically doubled as a dining room, but which you only used when you had company – so, rarely – and your bedroom. It wasn't dirty so much as it was just...messy. Okay, maybe also a little bit dirty. But you'd vacuum-cleaned it sometime last week, so it couldn't possibly be that bad, right?

You groaned inwardly. You knew you had to get up and do something about it. You also had some reading to do to prepare for your next day at uni.  
But first you'd relax a bit more, just for an hour. Or six. The empty cereal bowl got itself a nice cozy place next to the tea mug.  
You were just about to commit to a show you could binge and forget all about housework or studying to today, when your phone buzzed several times.

Sans (the Skeleton):  
heh, i'm fine. glad you remember.

Sans (the Skeleton):  
wasn't sure you'd actually want me to text you.

Y/N:  
What, you think I give my number out to just anyone I meet?  
I do have standards you know 

The little dots indicating he was typing appeared and reappeared repeatedly for over a minute, before he finally hit send on his next message.

Sans (the Skeleton):  
how 'bout you tell me about those standards over coffee

In a fit of panic you shoved the phone under your pillow. 

Not what you'd expected.  
You slowly pulled it out from under the pillow again to reread the text.  
Was he asking you out on a date? 

You personally hadn't done that much research on Monsters, and mainly knew what the mainstream media reported on and what some Monsters who were popular on the social media sites you frequented wrote about themselves. As far as you were aware, Monster-Human relationships were still rare. 

You pondered it for a second, but the thought actually made you snort. A Monster that had fallen head over heels for you after one short meeting? Yeah, right. Because you were so irresistible. Way to be full of yourself, y/n. You shook your head. 

It was very nice of him to want to get to know you better, though. You were incredibly awkward around new people, but also very curious. And you didn't have anything planned for today after all. Nothing important, anyways, you corrected with a glance at your messy floor. Why not give it a go.

Y/N:  
Sure!  
I know a place that's monster friendly, we could meet there in about an hour if you're free?

Sans (the Skeleton):  
cool.

You texted him the address and looked at your phone's watch.  
Around forty minutes before you had to leave the house if you wanted to be on time.  
Good thing you worked best when stressed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you liked this, come and say hi in the comments :3


End file.
